Party Hardy! - Spring Party Games for You and Your Dog

You may be suffering from spring fever, but how about your dog? Naturally, your dog is a party animal, so why not have a bit of fun as the days get longer, warmer, and hopefully, less snowier. Why not throw a party to celebrate spring? Invite your friends and your dog's best buddies for a howling good time.

Invitations

You'll have to send out invites, but who says your pup can't be internet savvy? Send emails or (if you have to, snail mails) addressed to your dog's buddies care of their owners. Your friends will get a giggle out of the invitations. Do specify if there'll be a costume contest and whether humans and pets should wear a costume. Ask your guests to wear collars and leashes because even if the dogs are well behaved, sometimes things can get out of hand quickly.

One word of warning, though. You should invite only those dogs who are well-behaved enough and not aggressive as an aggressive or out of control dog is the proverbial turd in the punchbowl.

Party Theme

Since it's spring, you can use whatever springy theme you'd like. Some ideas might include Easter eggs, flowers, bunnies, four leaf clovers, birds or whatever strikes your fancy. Your location of the party is important as well. Choose a place where the dogs can play that is fenced in or indoors where the dogs can quickly go out and relieve themselves as required.

Food and Drink

Before the party, you should have plenty of food and drink for both humans and pets. Choose human foods that if they get dropped or spilled, they're not likely to cause potential poisonings. That means staying away from alcohol, chocolate, macadamia nuts, raisins, grapes and anything with onions. You'll need multiple bowls of water in various locations so your doggie guests can get a quick sip and have plenty of tiny biscuits and treats so the owners can reward their pups for good behavior.

You can make a carrot cake dogs can enjoy by simply taking a regular carrot cake recipe and omitting the sugar and raisins in it. Don't frost the cake either - simply cut and serve to your canine guests. Oh, and you can make a real carrot cake for the humans, too.

Prepare for the Guests

Have paper towels, poop bags, pooper scoops and enzymatic cleaner handy. Accidents can and do happen. Be sure to remove anything enticing that a dog might want to get into that you want to keep safe.

Games and Contests

Since everyone is going to want to do something besides sit around, here are a few games and contests worth doing:

Costume contest - who has the best costume, funniest costume, etc.

Biggest Dog, Smallest Dog Contest - give awards for the biggest dog and smallest dog at the party.

Simon Says - a contest for dogs and owners. Try Simon Says with basic commands. When you say "Simon says sit!", all dogs have to be sitting within five seconds or they're out. If you ask them to give the command without "Simon Says" and they follow the command, they're out.

Easter Egg Hunt - Place dog treats in plastic Easter Eggs and hide them. Then, set a timer and send everyone out to find them. The dog and owner with the most Easter Eggs wins.

Peeps Relay Race - Divide the owners into teams and hand each one a plastic spoon and a marshmallow peep (chick). Then, with their dogs on leash they're to "run" to a spot, turn around and return, balancing the peep on their spoon. If they drop the peep, they must stop, pick it up and rebalance it and continue. If the dog eats the peep, they go back to the beginning, get another peep and run the course again.

Bobbing for Biscuits - Float biscuits in a shallow pan and time each dog to see how many they can eat before 30 seconds is up. Winner grabs the most biscuits.

Be sure to put together bags of prizes for dogs who win the contests, and a few extra for honorable mentions and maybe even a consolation prize or two.

References

Margaret H. Bonham, Having Fun with Agility, 2005